


All Quiet On the Eastern Front

by cheshireArcher



Category: Henry IV Part 1 - Shakespeare
Genre: 1941, Alternate Universe - World War II, Battle of Moscow, Dubious use of dialect, Gen, Homesickness, Northern bros, Russian winter is so much fun, Soldiers talking about home, Soviet Union, What it means to be manly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 16:26:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8109382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshireArcher/pseuds/cheshireArcher
Summary: “Of course it is,” Douglas said. “It means there’s something you love and want to protect. We’re fighting this war because there’s something we need to save.”





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FearNoEvil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FearNoEvil/gifts).



> For my friend, who also likes Hotspur and Douglas! Have some Northern Bros in WWII. 
> 
> I tried to get Hotspur to have a Northumbrian dialect but probably failed. I looked it up and may have gone overboard. I know nothing about Northumbrian English. Also this is a little heavy on the Hotspur, next time I'll try to get more Douglas in.

The war raged outside the bunker that kept the two soldiers safe- at least for the present. They were deep somewhere in Russia, the winter seeping into their bones and making them both wonder why they'd been sent there in the first place. Two men, far from home, dug into the fortifications of a city, freezing and cursing their existence and trying to deny the conditions at the same time.

“This is nothing,” Harry Percy said, tugging his coat tighter around himself. “There’re nights back home w-when it gets so cold…” his voice trailed off. His refusal to admit that he was freezing wasn't actually helping and it was just annoying his companion more. 

“Aye, but back home we have fireplaces…” Douglas mumbled, looking down at his rations in distaste. Suspicious looking “canned meat product” again, what a surprise. They were down to almost nothing else and others needed to eat too- no use complaining.

“Ah'll set summat on fire,” Harry muttered. He knew as well as Douglas did that every resource was precious and they couldn't waste anything, even as the harsh Russian weather set in.

Douglas heard Harry begin ranting but he shut out the noise. The Northumbrian soldier never shut up, and in this case he was probably talking just to hear his own stuttering, Northern voice. Douglas just burrowed down into his coat. 

They were the only two soldiers who weren't Soviets in the heavily fortified city of Tula. It was an industrial city, one of the main centers of arms production in the Soviet Union. The Germans had been moving on Tula in an attempt to break resistance in Moscow, of which Tula was the southern flank. 

Great Britain and the Soviet Union were allies after the breaking of the Nazi- Soviet Pact, although their relationship was strained. That's how Harry Percy, from Northumberland, and Archie Douglas, his Scottish rival, ended up in the harsh Russian winter, holed up in a city with defenses thicker than Percy’s skull. Tula and its inhabitants had nothing else to do now but wait. Wait out the Germans approaching their doorstep. Wait for winter to take its toll. Wait to see if the Second Panzer Army broke first or they did.

“Didn't the Germans learn from Napoleon?” Douglas asked. “Don't invade Russia in the winter?” It was November and the country was settling into one of its legendarily harsh winters.

“Divvies, the lot of them. They w-willn't make it,” Percy agreed. “The Panzers can't take us.” 

Douglas leaned his head on the wall, closing his good eye and trying to get some rest. “W-we've held out this long,” Percy continued. Now Douglas was sure he was talking just to hear his own voice. 

“I wonder how it is back home,” Douglas mused, not lifting his head from its resting place. “We haven't heard a thing.” He fell quiet for a moment. “I miss it, you know.” 

Percy for once shut up. He picked up his Russian phrasebook and tried to study, but the letters blurred together and it couldn't do its job of distracting him. No doubt Douglas had hit a sore spot.

“You miss home, Percy?” Douglas prodded, gently.

“Ah'm a soldier,” Percy replied. “Ah'm used to being away from home.”

“I am too,” Douglas muttered. “Still doesn’t help.” He thought for a moment. “Miss anyone, Percy?”

Percy didn’t reply. He wrapped his now ragged Red Army coat around himself and for the time being, Douglas had actually managed to shut him up- who knew all it took was a personal question.

“It’s not manly to miss someone,” Percy said finally. “Comes w-with the job.”

The goddamn Germans threatening civilization for the second time in thirty years, the place he and Percy called home being nearly bombed out of existence, the two of them stuck in a city in Russia in winter with Panzers surrounding them and of course Percy was concerned about being manly. “Of course it is,” Douglas said. “It means there’s something you love and want to protect. We’re fighting this war because there’s something we need to save.”

Percy rambled for a while, something about honor and duty and king and country and if Douglas had something worth breaking over the Northumbrian’s head, he would have done so. Finally, he said something sensible.

“Ah miss Kate.” 

“Your wife, right?” Douglas wasn't sure why he asked, other than to keep the conversation going. He knew who Kate was, Percy had talked about her before and Douglas had seen the letters Percy received from her and tucked in his coat, both to keep them safe from damage and close to him. He also knew that was the name Percy moaned as he thrashed in his sleep, along with commands for some battle in his head. 

“Aye. Me w-wife. Kate. She's home in Northumberland.” Suddenly Percy couldn't shut up as he described his wife, possibly as much for his own benefit as Douglas’s. “She's from W-wales, actually. Not from a W-welsh family though. She can sing, doesn't like tiv in front of people though. Ah couldn't ask for better. She's strong, me Kate.”

“Must be to put up with you,” Douglas teased.

Percy apparently ignored him. “I miss little Henry and Lizzie. Haven't seen ‘em for a year.”

Had it really been that long since they'd left for the war. 

They hadn't planned to go to Russia. Originally they were sent to France, then ended up in Germany and then the Ukraine, just in time for the invasion. That's where Douglas had lost an eye and Percy had lost his mind. 

They had made an unspoken agreement to never talk about Kiev.

“I miss my children too,” Douglas said. He'd already told Percy about his family- his wife Margie and their children, Archie Jr., Elizabeth (he and Percy both had Elizabeths, coincidentally), Will, and Jamie. Both men loved their wives and children and on nights like these, memories of their families on the home front were the only things to keep them warm.

“Ah tell ya w-what Lizzie said she w-wants to be w-when she grows up?” Percy asked, stretching out on his camp bed and putting his arms behind his head.

“No, don't believe you did,” Douglas replied, idly thumbing through the Russian phrasebook.

“She said she w-wants to be a knight,” Percy said, smiling. “And not just a soldier. She w-would be a knight, w-with armor and horse and everything.”

“That's adorable,” Douglas replied. “Being a Lady isn't enough?”

“Nah, she said she w-wants tiv earn it horsel,” Percy said. He slipped back into his less restrained dialect when he let his guard down and got nostalgic. Or was it homesickness.

“Ah said the King w-would ha’ to make her a knight, she'd get it through doing summat for the crown.”

“And?” 

“Ah knaa she w-will.”

They heard shouts outside their bunker, orders to the Red troops to prepare for combat. Percy and Douglas jumped up and grabbed their rifles and rucksacks. Time to fight for their current home, full of soldiers like them and families just like theirs. There would be time for more talk about families later but for now two displaced soldiers who had become friends through hardship joined their comrades in defending their homes- here and far away.


End file.
